When the RTC Operating Mode bits in the Control A register (CTRLA.MODE) are written to 0x0, the counter operates in 32-bit Counter mode. The block diagram of this mode is shown in Figure 1. When the RTC is enabled, the counter will increment on every 0-to-1 transition of CLK_RTC_CNT. The counter will increment until it reaches the top value of 0xFFFFFFFF, and then wrap to 0x00000000. This sets the Overflow Interrupt flag in the Interrupt Flag Status and Clear register (INTFLAG.OVF).
The RTC counter value can be read from or written to the Counter Value register (COUNT) in 32-bit format.
The counter value is continuously compared with the 32-bit Compare register (COMP0). When a compare match occurs, the Compare 0 Interrupt flag in the Interrupt Flag Status and Clear register (INTFLAG.CMP0) is set on the next 0-to-1 transition of CLK_RTC_CNT.
If the Clear on Match bit in the Control A register (CTRLA.MATCHCLR) is '1', the counter is cleared on the next counter cycle when a compare match with COMP0 occurs. This allows the RTC to generate periodic interrupts or events with longer periods than the prescaler events. Note that when CTRLA.MATCHCLR is '1', INTFLAG.CMP0 and INTFLAG.OVF will both be set simultaneously on a compare match with COMP0.